The police on Monday informed the Supreme Court that 151 girls, who were abducted from Sargodha, have been recovered, according to Express Tribune.
The police informed this during the hearing of Sobia Batool case by a three-member bench of the apex court, presided by Justice Maqbool Baqir.
Batool was abducted from Sargodha district in November, 2021.
District Police Officer (DPO) Dr Rizwan Ahmad Khan informed the bench that on the court’s order, an operation was carried out to recover the missing girls and as a result, 151 girls were rescued from different areas of Sargodha division.
He added that 21 girls have been rescued from brothels, however, Sobia Batool has not been found. He elaborated that 16 accused have been arrested and some of the recovered girls have provided marriage certificates.
The bench expressed concern over the abduction of the girls from Sargodha, deeming it a result of “incompetence and failure of police”.
Justice Baqir stated, “It is a matter of great abuse that despite the First Information Report (FIR), the recovery was so lax”.
The apex court judge also questioned the DPO whether the recovered girls had their FIRs registered and ordered Station House Officers (SHO) of police stations, where cases were registered, to be notified.
The court further directed the Inspector General of Punjab Rao Sardar Ali Khan to take steps to rescue abducted girls across the province and ordered the police to take steps for the recovery of Sobia Batool.
The court also rejected the bail plea of accused Muhammad Umair, who was arrested in Sobia Batool’s kidnapping case.
